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Cover Story :Implications of UTME’s Massive Failure and the Future of Nigeria’s Tertiary Education System

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Professor Ishaq Oloyede JAMB Registrar

<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"Kh8yqJGF" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa&comma; Nigerian Tracker<&sol;p><div class&equals;"ENNIewra" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination &lpar;UTME&rpar; results have once again stirred widespread concern across the country&period; As the performance statistics trend on media platforms&comma; the figures paint a worrying picture of Nigeria’s education sector and its implications for the country’s future leaders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Away from tertiary students&comma; those who have completed their secondary education and are seeking admission into higher institutions must sit for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board &lpar;JAMB&rpar; examination&period; However&comma; the performance of this group has been declining steadily&comma; particularly since 2015&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"A5BjiWiX" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Only a small number of students typically perform excellently&period; A review of past data reveals a consistent increase in the number of students scoring below 200&period; According to EduCeleb&comma; 95&percnt; and 84&percnt; of candidates in 2016 and 2017 respectively scored below 200&period; &ast;Punch&ast; newspaper also reported that in 2018&comma; 2019&comma; 2020&comma; 2021&comma; 2022&comma; and 2023&comma; the percentages of candidates who scored below 200 were 74&percnt;&comma; 77&percnt;&comma; 79&percnt;&comma; 87&percnt;&comma; 77&percnt;&comma; and 76&percnt;&comma; respectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 2024&comma; Premium Times revealed that 76&percnt; of candidates scored below 200&comma; while in 2025&comma; the JAMB board itself reported that 78&percnt; fell below the 200 mark&period; While the fluctuations appear marginal&comma; the consistent dominance of low scores is alarming&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>This situation raises critical questions&colon; What is the root cause of this persistent failure&quest; Who should be held accountable—the students or the examination board&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Several studies suggest that while students must take a major share of the responsibility&comma; the JAMB board is not without blame&period; In an interview with &ast;Nigerian Tracker&ast;&comma; respected educationist Mr&period; Oluwamuyiwa Aladeyelu&comma; founder of CIMET JUKU—a platform promoting quality education in Ekiti State—shared insightful perspectives&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;More people scored 300 and above in this year’s UTME&period; However&comma; as much as 78&percnt; still scored below 200&comma; which is bad&period; I must confess that our students don’t read&comma;” Mr&period; Oluwamuyiwa remarked&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When asked what might be contributing to the poor outcomes&comma; he added&colon;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The blame does not lie entirely with the students&period; JAMB should also take part of the responsibility&period; The exam is not without glitches&period; Many Biology questions were incomplete&comma; and some diagram-based questions failed to display properly&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He further cited a discrepancy in the English Language section&comma; noting&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The section was supposed to have 60 questions&comma; but only had 55&period; Who should be held accountable for that&quest;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr&period; Oluwamuyiwa emphasized that JAMB has yet to properly address these concerns&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They must be held accountable&period; We cannot keep placing all the blame on students while absolving JAMB of responsibility&period; They can—and should—do better&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Interestingly&comma; JAMB appeared to acknowledge some of these issues via a response on its official X &lpar;formerly Twitter&rpar; handle regarding reported glitches during the exam held on Saturday&comma; April 26&comma; 2025&period; However&comma; no follow-up communication has confirmed whether those issues persisted in subsequent sessions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To probe the matter further&comma; another educationist&comma; Dr&period; Usman Isyaku&comma; raised several probing questions&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Low JAMB scores—whose fault&quest; Lazy students&quest; Poorly trained teachers&quest; Poor remuneration for teachers&quest; A sign of disinterest in traditional education or work-retirement systems&quest; We need a holistic analysis&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In response&comma; Mr&period; Oluwamuyiwa stated&colon;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Some schools consistently perform well due to highly qualified teachers&comma; strong family backgrounds&comma; and boarding environments that reduce social media distractions&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also pointed out that the normalization of exam malpractice from an early age discourages serious study&comma; adding that competitive salaries attract qualified teachers&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Top schools do well because they are adequately staffed and teachers are well-paid&comma;” he explained&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He offered this solution&colon;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It’s a tripod system—parents&comma; teachers&comma; and students must work together&period; The government and stakeholders should also encourage schools to conduct internal exams ahead of external ones&period; If students are familiar with exam systems&comma; performance will improve&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition&comma; computer literacy remains a major challenge&period; Many students lack the digital skills to navigate the CBT &lpar;computer-based test&rpar; system&comma; causing them to lose valuable time during the exams&period; Providing free or subsidized training can bridge this gap&comma; especially for students who cannot afford private computer training centers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Moreover&comma; technical glitches must be addressed decisively by JAMB to prevent recurring issues that impact exam integrity and student performance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In conclusion&comma; Nigerian students must take responsibility for their learning&comma; but JAMB and the broader education system must also rise to the occasion&period; Without a united effort to address these systemic issues&comma; the nation risks undermining the academic future of its youth—and the quality of its future leadership&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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